


Starlight Savannah

by Sturm_and_Drang



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Adventure, Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-31
Updated: 2015-08-17
Packaged: 2018-04-12 07:18:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 11,195
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4470236
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sturm_and_Drang/pseuds/Sturm_and_Drang
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Amethyst is bored out of her mind, Pearl's training Connie to be a swordsman or whatever, and Steven's watching them. Leaving the gem with nothing to do. Until she catches Garnet leaving on a mission and talks the fusion into bringing her along. Anything Garnet gets up to has gotta be fun right?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Amethyst sighed, rolling over on the couch and scratching her belly. She was so bored. Steven was hanging out with Connie and Pearl. They were training Connie to be swordsman, or swordswoman, whichever. Which was cool and all, but didn’t make her any less bored.

She sat up, looking around the house. Her eyes lingered on the fridge, but she dismissed the thought. She’d already eaten all the good stuff anyway, all that was left was some yogurt, and that sucked. It had like, no texture at all. It was barely worth eating. 

She wanted to get up and do something, anything. But her restlessness was at war with her laziness, rendering her unable to even sleep the boredom off. She could hear a clock ticking somewhere, which was weird because she couldn’t remember them having a clock before. Steven didn’t really pay much attention to time, and the gems sure didn’t. It was a loud, hypnotic ticking, she zoned out as the constant ticking drilled itself into her skull. She wanted to get up and smash it, but she couldn’t work up the energy.

Tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-so-bored-tock.

The door to the temple flashed and Garnet stepped out, the volcanic heat of her room filling the house for a moment before the door shut. 

“Sup G?” she waved, drawing the fusion’s attention. Maybe this was her chance to escape; Garnet was usually up to something interesting.

“Amethyst.” Garnet nodded, stepping onto the warp pad. 

“Where you going?” she asked, before the fusion could disappear, desperate for anything to help her escape the relentless ticking of that stupid clock.

“I sensed an unnatural surge of gem energy out on the starlight savannah, I’m going to investigate.”

“Any chance I can come with?”

Garnet shook her head, “It’s unnecessary, the surge was unnatural, but it did not feel large. I can handle it.”

“Oh come on!” Amethyst whined. “I didn’t ask if it was necessary, I asked if I could come with. Help me out here G, I’m dying of boredom over here.” she shape shifted her eyes a bit, making them look like a puppy’s eyes. It worked for Steven, maybe it would work for her too.

“Hmmm. Alright. Come on then.” 

“Yes.” Amethyst leapt off the couch and dashed over to the warp pad, “Garnet, you rock.”

“Actually, I’m two rocks.”

Amethyst blinked, was that a…? “… pfffft. Nice one!” she chuckled.

“Thanks, I’ve been practicing. Steven said I should.” Garnet grinned, before her face returned to stoicism. “Now let’s go.” the warp pad glowed and the world around them disappeared, giving way to the familiar tunnel of gem magic.

When the world came back into being, Amethyst had to squint against the sun’s glare, hissing at the sudden light. The warp pad had brought them to a wide plain. Rolling hills of grass stretched out as far as the eye could see. Though grass wasn’t exactly the right word, it was all crystal grass, crystalline structures that looked very much like grass, they grew like grass, they swayed in the wind like grass, and they filled the air with a musical tinkle whenever the wind blew. There were also trees and bushes scattered across the grasslands, their crystal leaves refracting the sunlight into a myriad of rainbows.

The starlight savannah was a pretty old place. Pearl had told her that in prewar times, before she had come out of the kindergarten, ancient gems had used this place as a dumping ground of broken or unstable sources of gem energy, like worn out warp drives and stuff like that. The energy had leaked out over time and infused the ground with crystal magic, and then the earth’s plants had adapted, absorbing the gem energy and taking on their current crystalline form. Or was it that the crystal energy had grown on it’s own and taken on the form earth’s plants? Amethyst couldn’t really remember which one Pearl had said happened, or see what the difference was.

Amethyst smiled wistfully, Rose had loved this place, and she was always visiting to see how the plants and gem magic had interacted and grown and blended together. Said it inspired her how completely different forms of life could live together so perfectly. 

“So which way we going?” Amethyst asked, looking up at the taller gem.

“This way.” Garnet stepped off the warp pad, wading into the crystal grass that reached up as high as her waist. Amethyst frowned, the crystal grass may look soft, but she knew it could be razor sharp and she would impale herself on it if she weren’t careful, Garnet was tall enough and tough enough to withstand the pointy plants. But the grass was as tall as Amethyst was, their razor points glinting in the sunlight right at her eye level, she’d probably wind up spearing herself in the face if she tried to wade through it.

Yeah, forget that noise.

She shifted into a humming bird and took to the air, zipping into the air and flitting around Garnet’s head. She followed for several minutes, not speaking as they traveled through the plain. 

“So…” Amethyst began, taking a stab at conversation. She wasn’t really sure what to say, and Garnet wasn’t really one for conversation at the best of times. Though admittedly, she had been getting better since they started raising Steven.

“…” 

“Been a while since we been here.” 

Garnet nodded. Well that conversation was dead. That done, the gems lapsed back into silence, it wasn’t so bad really, it was pretty peaceful in the savannah, and the grass was tough enough that most earth creatures weren’t able to live here; they couldn’t eat it, nor get through it without getting shish-kabobbed. Heck, even crystal beasts avoided this place; the grass was just that much of a nuisance. Only birds and insects were able to colonize this place, flying between the crystal trees that dotted the landscape. Their chirps and birdsong mingled with the tinkling of the grass to make a rather awesome background noise.

But still, she was a restless person, and eventually she couldn’t take it any more. “What exactly are we looking for again?”

“I told you.”

“Yeah well.” Amethyst chirped, shrugging her wings, “You were kind of vague, and I didn’t really care at the time. I just wanted something to do. So come on, spill it.”

“As I said, I sensed a unnatural surge of energy somewhere in the savannah.”

Amethyst waited, but Garnet didn’t say anything else. “…And?” she asked, rolling her eyes, “Come on Garnet, you gotta give me more than that. I know I don’t really do your whole sense-the-flow-of-the-universe, or whatever. But I do know this whole planet is loaded with a whole bunch of gem junk. It’s everywhere.” Amethyst hovered in front of the fusions face, her tiny wings keeping her suspended in place. “I bet these energy surges happen all the time.”

Garnet had stopped walking and was quietly regarding the humming bird. “You’re right.” 

Okay, Garnet didn’t have to sound so surprised. It’s not like she was an idiot. She was just really lazy and didn’t listen to other people much when they talked about boring stuff.

“So, what’s special about this one?” she asked, perching on Garnet’s nose pressing her beak flat against the fusion’s sunglasses.

“… It felt familiar.” Ugh, getting complete answers out of Garnet was so annoying.

“Still gonna need a little more than that G.”

“…It felt like Rose.” 

...Okay, those were the kind of details she wanted.

“Are you serious?”

Garnet nodded.

“And you were just gonna keep this to yourself?” Garnet was pretty private and Amethyst could respect that, gem’s gotta have her space, but come on. If it concerned Rose, all the crystal gems had a right to know.

Garnet hesitated.

“Garnet?”

“I was going to inform you and Pearl. But only after I checked it out.” Garnet fell silent, again. Amethyst didn’t interrupt, she could tell this was a I’m-thinking about-how-to-say-this silence as opposed to a I’m-done-with-this-conversation one. “I didn’t want to…upset Pearl. I predicted that she would have gotten very worked up over whatever this is, and it might be nothing worthy of note.”

“Eh, that’s fair.” That sounded like Pearl, she would have dropped everything and come running the moment Rose was mentioned. “I doubt Rose would have left anything important here, anyway.”

“What do you mean?” 

“Remember how Rose always used to visit this place? Whatever’s triggering your senses, it’s probably just some gem junk she left behind by accident, like a magic sword or battle-axe or something. She had tons of those. If it was something big, she would have told us about it.” 

Garnet considered this, before nodding in agreement. “But it still needs to be checked out.”

“Well duh. So, are we close?”

“I can’t tell. Whatever it was has ceased releasing energy, so I can’t tell where it’s coming from.

“Why can’t you just see it with your future vision?” 

Garnet shrugged. 

Well that was helpful, but whatever.

“So we’re just randomly walking around hoping we find something, while also not knowing what we’re looking for?” Garnet opened her mouth to reply, then snapped it shut, her body sinking into a battle stance, shaking Amethyst off in the process.

“What?” Amethyst asked, tensing herself, glancing around to see what the problem was.

“We’re not alone.” Garnet formed her gauntlets and stood still, focusing on their surroundings. “Not sure what, but it’s bigger than anything around here should be.” 

“Think it’s what we’re looking for?” Amethyst couldn’t see or hear anything weird herself, but she tended to take Garnet’s word on this.

“Maybe.” Garnet frowned. “I can’t tell where it is.”

“I’ll take a look around,” without waiting for the fusions response she zipped into the air. She had to squint against the glare, the sunlight kept reflecting off of all the crystal, so she couldn’t really see much around. She promptly solved the problem by shape shifting a bird-sized pair of sunglasses onto her face.

She loved being able to do stuff like that. She couldn’t imagine how humans got by without it.

There! She saw a white blob of fluff slinking through the grass behind a cluster of trees. 

Go time.

“I see it!” She called, shifting into a hawk and diving. The bird shifted into the Purple Puma right as it began to rear upwards. She slammed into it sending it tumbling. Amethyst could feel the crystal grass stabbing into her back as it struggled against her.

It growled and she paused. She knew that sound, the Gem glanced up and saw a familiar pair of eyes staring at her.

“Lion?” Amethyst blinked, snapping back to her normal form in surprise. She got off the cat, backing off as it got back to its feet and sat in front of her. “The heck are you doing here?”

The big cat just blinked at her, then leaned in and licked her face, his tongue rasping against her nose. Amethyst melted inside.

“Awww, c’mere you.” she wrapped her arms around the cat, who placed his head on top of Amethyst’s and purred.

“Amethyst!” Garnet shouted, jumping back into sight with her gauntlets at the ready. She paused, “What is Lion doing here?”

“I dunno.” Amethyst shrugged, leaning into his poofy mane. “He’s Lion, he does his own thing.”

Lion was a bit of mystery, he was always wandering around the house, and occasionally the temple. Amethyst had stumbled upon the overgrown cat sleeping in her room more than once, it didn’t bother her, it just meant he had great taste. It didn’t hurt that his habits drove Pearl up the wall either.

He might not be a puma, but he was still pretty cool.

Amethyst had a sudden thought.

“Hey Lion.” She asked turning up to look up at the pink leonine. It blinked at her, “We’re lookin for something of Rose’s that’s somewhere around here. Any idea where that might be?”

“Do you really think he will know?” Garnet asked, raising a brow behind her glasses.

“Hey, he had Rose’s sword, didn’t he? Can’t hurt to ask.”

“Hmmmm. True.” Garnet stared at Lion. 

Lion stared back. Then got up and started walking away. Well, that was about a clear an answer as one could get out of Lion.

“…Should we follow him?” Amethyst asked. 

“Might as well.” Garnet shrugged following the lion’s path through the grass.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It had been a half hour since they had begun following Steven’s lion, and Garnet was getting agitated. The pink feline had been leading them on a winding route through the crystal grass, meandering through wherever the sharp plants grew thinnest. Which admittedly was a bit of a relief, she might be able to walk through their wickedly sharp points, but that didn’t mean that the fusion wanted to.

Amethyst had forgone further flying and climbed on Lion’s back. The feline hadn’t bothered to shrug her off so the smaller gem was lounging on the cat’s back, just watching the landscape pass by. It was a slow process, as the cat stopped every couple of minutes to sniff the air.

It wasn’t the speed of the journey that was agitating, however.

It was the uncertainty.

Her future vision was being surprisingly unhelpful on this venture. When Amethyst had asked why she couldn’t just predict where the thing was earlier she had shrugged, because it was too complicated to explain to one who could not experience it.

Future vision was not omniscience. She could gaze into the river of time and see what might happen and use that vision to guide her actions. 

The problem was that what might happen was a sea of possibilities too vast to truly comprehend. So she had to anchor herself in the metaphorical river with what she knew was fact. She knew that something was in this savannah that was giving off energy akin to Rose’s energy. But that just wasn’t enough information to help.

It was possible, that it might be Rose herself. It was possible, that Rose hadn’t disappeared when Steven was born and that she was hiding in these lands. It was possible, that Rose just didn’t want to see any of the crystal gems, Greg, or Steven and was hiding from them.

That was all nonsense, of course, but that didn’t stop the fusion from seeing such an outcome hidden in the river of what might be. Garnet had long grown accustomed to ignoring possibilities that were so ludicrous. But that still left a nearly infinite number that were plausible.

Rose had visited the savannah hundreds of times throughout the millennia and Garnet had only accompanied her on a handful of those. She had no idea what Rose had been doing for the trips she hadn’t been present on. Where had Rose gone? What had she brought with her? What could she have left behind, on purpose or otherwise?

There was too much uncertainty in the river, and she didn’t have a metaphorical paddle of facts. It was a state she had found herself in far too often recently.

So she was stuck following Lion, who she knew so little about, she didn’t even bother trying to use her future vision on.

“Hey Garnet want a snack?”

Garnet blinked, drawn from her brooding by her companion’s question. Amethyst had her arm shoved into Lion’s mane and was fishing around.

“Steven showed me how he stores stuff in Lion’s mane.” Amethyst explained, sticking her tongue out in concentration as she rummaged in the hair. “He probably left… a… jackpot!” she exclaimed, pulling out a watermelon. 

“Ah, nice!” she smiled, ripping the watermelon in half and offering a piece to her. Garnet shook her head; she knew Amethyst enjoyed eating more than she did.

“Suit yourself.” She jammed half into her mouth and then jammed the other half in as well; her cheeks puffing out like a chipmunk. “So…” she said, speaking around the fruit in her mouth, "Still no clue about Rose’s whatever?”

“No.” Garnet replied, a little bit of her frustration must have leaked into her tone, because of how Amethyst was looking at her, with a big gulp she swallowed the fruit.

“Uh… you doin’ alright there, G? You seem…tense.” 

“I’m fine.”

“Well if you say so.” Garnet could hear the doubt in her teammate’s voice. That wasn’t good. Since Rose was gone, she couldn’t be allowed to show weakness. Pearl, Amethyst, and Steven looked to her for direction, if she wavered in her confidence, if her uncertainty showed. She knew her teammates would waver with her. They needed her to remain strong.

“Amethyst.” She said, putting her hand on the gem’s shoulder as Lion came to another stop. She looked the shorter gem in the eye, “I’m fine.” She repeated, putting as much confidence into her tone as she could.

Amethyst nodded and Garnet could feel the gem relaxing under her hand. She opened her mouth to say something, but Lion interrupted her as he raised his head and growled.

“What’s up dude?” Amethyst asked, “do you smell someth- WOW MAMA!” she yelled as Lion bolted, dashing off through the grass. Amethyst latched onto his mane and shouting at him to slow down.

Garnet dashed after them. She could stop the Lion if she wanted to, but instead chose to keep pace with him. Lion didn’t usually move quickly like this unless it was something he deemed important. He could very well be leading them to what they were searching for.

Lion carried on like this for several minutes. Ahead, Garnet could see a darker blot on the landscape growing closer as they ran. When they reached it Lion came to a halt, his mane puffing up as her growled at it.

It was a cluster of trees had grown in a way that they grew intertwined together, their trunks and branches twining in an elegant way to form a sort of cage, as if they were trying to hold something between them. In gaps between the petrified wood, Garnet could see a steady pink glow.

“Welp, this definitely looks like something Rose would make.” Amethyst said, sliding off lion’s back and eyeing the cluster of plants.

“I believe it is one of Rose’s seeds.”

“It’s kinda big for that though, isn’t it?” Amethyst replied, tilting her head and trying to get a better look in between the tree branches.

“Yes, it is.” Garnet frowned. Rose often summoned and commanded a variety of living plants to fight for her. Often this took the form of vines sprouting from the ground to ensnare a foe, or perhaps a barricade of trees to defend her. According to her, those kinds of things were easy, vines naturally wanted to grow around things, and trees grew sturdy all on their own, she just encouraged them to do it faster and stronger.

But mobile fighting plants, such as the Watermelon Steven Legion, were more difficult to handle. Mixing gem energy into normal earth plants tended to make them more than a little wild. The Watermelon Steven Incident was not actually the first time the crystal gems had to fight off a horde of angry earth plants, nor was it the worst experience they’d had doing so.

After one such incident, Rose had promised never to experiment with pineapples ever again.

So instead of creating armies of weaker plants, Rose had spent centuries crafting individual seeds, trying to make the perfect soldier plants. It was certainly more effective than mixing up gem magic with whatever wild seeds were around and seeing what happened. The results were often impressive: sturdy tree golems that could shrug off the strongest of blows as if they were a light breeze, graceful flower dryads that danced around the battlefield like leaves on the wind, a platoon of cactus warriors, who struck fear into the hearts of whoever they approached on the battlefield, or anywhere else for that matter.

Rose had stopped crafting such seeds a millennia ago. After the war, creating them had changed from being a necessity to a mere hobby. There were still a few of those seeds left back in the temple, stored in bubbles to ensure they didn’t germinate by accident, without Rose’s will to guide them, they acted much like the watermelons, picking a fight with anything that set them off.

That’s what made the presence of this seed so troubling. Rose knew that her plants were dangerous; she would never leave one of her seeds lying around and not inform them. Rose was more careful than that. 

This seed’s germination must have been the surge of energy she had sensed. It had likely lain dormant for years, decades, maybe even centuries. Garnet didn’t bother wasting time thinking about why it had germinated now. Just about anything could have caused it.

Regardless, it would have to be dealt with.

Suddenly, the glow from the tree cluster intensified, sending out a pulse of energy. Amethyst yelped and jumped back, colliding from with lion.

“That’s not good.” Amethyst commented, sinking into a battle stance and conjuring her whip from her gem.

“No. It’s not.” Garnet replied, her mind beginning to race through their options.

Option 1: Get Steven to calm the plant down and make it go dormant.

Steven wasn’t here, and there was no way that she was going to let Steven anywhere near one of Rose’s war plants for a very long time.

Option two: Bubble it and leave it with the bubbled seeds to be dealt with later.

It was too late to bubble it now, since it had germinated, it would just break out.

Option 3: Smash it. Now.

Option 3 it was.

“Destroy it.” Garnet ordered, snapping her hands upwards, her gauntlets materializing and blasting forwards like rockets. They slammed into the tree cluster, sending spider webs of cracks running through them, and exploded sending bits of rock and tree everywhere. Garnet snapped her eyes upwards, zeroing in on the exposed seed, a large crystal orb with several roots protruding from it, writhing as it soared through the air

She leapt after it, effortlessly propelling herself after it as a new pair of gauntlets formed on her hands. She slammed them together, sandwiching the seed between them in an attempt to crush it to pulp.

The seed cracked, but didn’t shatter. The roots whipped out and wrapped around her hands, anchoring it to her gauntlets and starting to burrow into the joints. Garnet jerked backwards in midair, dematerializing her a gantlets to dislodge it, the roots wriggled towards her hands, but before they could make contact, a thick purple cord wrapped around it and yanked it away.

Amethyst let out a battle cry as she swung her whip around and slammed the seed into the ground, sending a shockwave of energy racing down weapon for good measure, The ensuing explosion sending up a cloud of dirt. Garnet landed gracefully and nodded her thanks.

“No prob.” Amethyst replied, eyeing the cloud of dust. “Think we got it?”

“No.” she didn’t need her future vision to predict that. If the seed could withstand her gauntlets, it would take more than one blast of Amethyst’s whip to finish it. She stalked forward, cautiously; the thing had attempted to burrow its roots into her gems when she’d tried to smash it. She wasn’t going to give it another chance. Beside her, Lion stalked forward, belting out a sonic roar that blew away the cloud of smoke. 

The seed was growing fast; Rose had designed them that way. It had rooted itself into the ground and was swelling in size, already rivaling Lion in mass. Worse, it was pulling in surrounding plants, ripping up crystal grass and assimilating them into its growing form. The seed flashed violently, and sent a volley of crystal grass raining down on them like arrows, forcing the gems back.

The plant stopped growing when it reached the size of Steven’s house. It looked remarkably like a wolf; A roughly canine head with glowing pink flowers where its eyes should have been, four legs made of crystal trees pawed at the ground, supporting a body made of a tangled mass of vines. Behind it a tail of woven crystal grass waved through the air menacingly.

The plant behemoth glared down at the gems, its floral eyes blazing with fury. It opened it’s mouth revealing teeth made of jagged crystals and gave a shrill piercing whistle that set the gem’s teeth on edge.

“Aw man.” Amethyst groaned. “This is gonna suck isn’t it?”

Garnet nodded, this was probably going to suck.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The fight continues.

The flower wolf’s tail lashed upwards sending another volley of crystal grass whistling trough the air. Forcing the crystal gems leapt to the side to avoid being impaled. The beast let out another shriek and charged, paws slamming a ferocious beat against the ground. 

“Well, at least this isn’t gonna be too boring.” Amethyst muttered, sidestepping a second volley of crystal grass. The flower wolf pounced, its teeth snapping down where she had been standing. Amethyst lashed out with her whip, leaving a trio of gashes on the thing’s nose.

It snorted, unimpressed, and flicked another barrage of pointy grass at her. She yelped as a few of the blades whistled through her hair.

“Amethyst focus!” ordered Garnet, charging in like a freight train, leaping into the air and slamming a wild haymaker into the plant’s injured snout. The beast let out another piercing whistle as it staggered sideways, flower eyes burning with an angry pink glow. It jerked its head back and snapped at fusion, who was still stuck in mid-air.

Garnet managed to catch it by the jaws before it could rip an arm off, the beast slammed her in the ground using its greater bulk to overwhelm her, slowly crushing her into the ground.

“Hold on Garnet!” Amethyst shouted, throwing herself forward and curling into a ball. She channeled her energy into her hair, making it harden and wrap around her, armoring the gem in a ball of spikes. She spin balled towards the giant plant and slammed into its snout, slicing through the upper jaw.

Garnet snarled and, her hand freed from holding back the snapping teeth, grabbed the creature’s lower jaw and ripped it clean off. The flower wolf yelped,  
scrambling away from the fusion and trying to snarl through it’s missing snout.

“Nice one G!” Amethyst called, rushing back into the fray, only for Garnet to hold out a hand and stop her short.

“Hey! What gives?“

The fusion didn’t reply, her eyes narrowing behind her sunglasses as the beast began to stomp at the ground. The vines making up its face began to glow and distort before bursting outwards, reforming its jaws. 

As she had feared, the flower wolf possessed regenerative powers. Why did Rose have to make her war plants so resilient?

“Awww, come on!” Amethyst groaned. “That’s gonna make this take forever!”

“No, it won’t.” Garnet replied, “We just need to crush the seed.” Rose always made the base design of her war plants the same: the seed functioned the same way as a Gem’s gem. If they crushed it, the plant would die.

Of course, she also made it as difficult as possible to get at the seed.

“Where do you think it is?” Amethyst asked, eyeing the snarling beast. “The head?”

Garnet doubted it. Based on the reasoning that Rose designed it to win battles, the seed was probably somewhere in the middle of the body, as that was the largest part and therefore making it the most difficult to locate the relatively tiny seed. They would need to immobilize the war plant long enough to find it.

And she knew exactly what to do.

“Can you keep it distracted?” She asked, glancing at her shorter companion.

“Who do ya think you’re talkin to?” Amethyst smirked. “I’ve got distractin people down to an art form.”

Garnet nodded; there was no need to say anything more. Words wouldn’t bring the creature down.

As one the crystal gems charged the flower wolf, Amethyst shifted into a hawk and flying on ahead. She made a beeline for the monster’s face, soaring past the snapping jaws, and lashing out with her wing, shape shifting the feathers into blades to slice through one of the thing’s flower eyes.

She wasn’t sure if that would actually hurt it or not, but judging by its angry roars she was gonna go with yes. The war plant responded by flicking its tail upward, the tail stretching out in an attempt to swat her out of the sky, she banked sharply, swerving out of the tail’s path.

“Come on. You can do better than that.” She called, smirking down at the wolf and waggling her tail feathers. “Next time, put some effort into it.” 

The flower wolf roared, it’s damaged eye dangling uselessly and throwing sap everywhere as it shook with fury. It crouched and leapt into the air, trying to snap the purple pest out of the sky.

“Whoop.” Amethyst squawked, flapping awkawardly sharply as the beast’s maw ripped out a couple of her feathers. She wheeled around and slammed into its snout, she snapped back to her normal form and clung on as the beast landed. She grasped the vines tighter as it shook its head back and forth. She crawled up its face, shifting her feet into a second pair of hands to keep her grip.

“Okay, think I got your attention now.” She grinned, staring into the beast’s undamaged eye, “but I should probably make sure.” 

She grabbed the furious floral eye with two hands and promptly ripped it off.

Its responding roar sent startled birds into the air for miles.

Beneath them, Garnet was stalking through the grass, dodging the beast’s stomping paws. As the beast started tossing itself around in a blind rage, the fusion leapt upwards, latching on to its underbelly.

Swinging her legs upward, she dug them into the mass of vines, anchoring herself. Garnet closed her eyes, placing her right hand against the mass of plants.

She needed to stop the beast’s movement, she could try breaking it’s legs. but that probably wouldn’t be enough. It would just regenerate them. She needed to slow the beast down, not just hobble it. 

Which meant she needed to focus.

Dimly, she could hear the beast’s roars and Amethyst’s jeering laughs; she could feel her body shake as the beast shook. She tuned these sensations out, they were not important.

She reached within herself, gently pushing aside the burning fury of Ruby, grasping for the power of Sapphire. She needed that ever-calming presence, the chilly patience of one who watched the strings of fate. She could feel her, Sapphire’s power resting within her palm, rising to answer Garnet’s call.

Garnet opened her eyes, and frost exploded outwards from where her hand met plant. Ice ran up and down the vines of the wolf’s body; crackling as it reached the petrified wood making up its legs. The cold raced down the beast’s limbs, leaving a trail of cracks and frost along in its wake.

The effect was immediate. The wolf had thrown itself into the air in another attempt to dislodge the annoying gem harassing its face, when it felt the lower half of its body freeze solid. As it landed, its frozen legs screamed in protest and shattered, sending chunks of frozen plant in every direction. The flower wolf howled in rage, rolling onto its back and shrieking. Garnet held firm to the creature’s belly, riding out its throes of pain.

Now, as it rolled around in impotent fury, she began to tear more chunks of frozen vine away from its body, trying to find the seed before it could regrow its missing limbs. 

There! She could see the orb, still cracked from her blow earlier, nestled inside the vines. Garnet reached out to grab it, intent on ripping it out. 

Before she could make contact, the vines around it exploded into motion, slamming into her and dragging her from the seed. The vines held her suspended in midair, struggling, but the fusion couldn’t get any leverage against them as more whipped out from the wolf’s body.

“Garnet!” Amethyst called, rushing through the air to her aid. But the plant was ready this time, several vines shot out, weaving together to form a net, nearly snatching the gem out of the sky. The purple gem was forced to retreat or get captured herself.

The vines tightened around Garnet, drawing no more than a slight grunt from the fusion. She grimaced to herself, the vines were too numerous and were entrapping her too thoroughly for her to shape shift her way out, and felt herself being forcefully reminded that this creature was designed for fighting gems.

She still had one option however.

Working quickly, she tapped into her shape shifting powers, making her arms stretch like snakes, reaching away from the plant and back towards the ground. Her palms touched earth, she shut her eyes…

And let herself fall apart.

Ruby and Sapphire materialized safely in the grass as Garnet vanished in a flash of light, the vines that had entrapped her collapsed on the now empty space. The tendrils froze for a moment, before stretching back out, writhing through the air towards the separated gems.

“Ugh!” Ruby yelled, “Get lost!” She cocked back her arm and sent a fireball whizzing through the air. The flame hit the creeping vines causing them to shy backwards, retreating back into the massive tangle. Next to her, Sapphire sent a bolt of frost crackling into the sky, freezing the vines harassing Amethyst.

The purple gem immediately took advantage, dive-bombing the frozen vines and shattering through them. She snapped back to her normal form as she landed between them. 

“Thanks Garne- wait, what?” Amethyst blinked, doing a double take as she noticed that she had twice as much company as expected.

“Wow… I uh… haven’t seen you two in awhile… sup?” she said, it was so weird seeing these two out in the open like this, so she wasn’t quite sure what to say.

“Whatever.” Ruby grumbled, smoke trickling off of her as she glared to the side.

“Hello Amethyst.” said Sapphire, her voice calm as ever. “We wouldn’t have defused if it wasn’t necessary.”

“Right right, s’cool.” Amethyst nodded, “So...That didn’t work.” She finished, eyeing the tangled mass of plants. The vines had recoiled around themselves, losing its lupine shape and forming a giant ball of tangled vines. At its base she could see several tendrils rooting themselves into the ground.

“Uh… what’s it doing?”

“Who cares?” Ruby snapped, stomping forwards, leaving a trail of burning footprints in the ground. “I’m gonna set it on fire.”

“No.” Sapphire put her hand on Ruby’s shoulder, bringing the gem’s anger back down to a simmer. “That isn’t a good idea.”

“I dunno,” Amethyst, said, eyeing the plant ball skeptically, “I think fire is sounding pretty good right now.”

“That’s what I’m saying!” Ruby shouted, throwing her hands into the air.

Sapphire shook her head, “I mean that it won’t work. I can see it. We would just be wasting energy and allowing it more time to metamorphosize.”

“Meta-whatzit?” Amethyst asked. She hoped it wasn’t what it sounded like.

“The plant is adapting.” Sapphire replied, her grave monotone giving little reassurance. “It has tested our abilities and like any good warrior, it is changing its tactics. The seed is absorbing power from the land around us.” Sapphire gestured, and now that she pointed it out, Amethyst could see the grass around them beginning to wilt, losing their shine as they darkened and shriveled up. Whereas the ball of vines was swelling, taking on a pink crystalline shine as wickedly sharp looking thorns sprouted all over it.

“It will continue to absorb energy until it deems it enough to defeat us.” Sapphire continued, her monotone really starting to grate on Amethyst’s nerves, “Then it will defeat us, and go on to find something else to fight and repeat the process.”

“And we’re doing nothing because…?” Amethyst asked. Glancing nervously between the plant ball and Sapphire.

“Because it has armored itself. We cannot hurt it at this point.”

“So we’re doomed?”

“I did not say that. I see a path to victory, and we must take that path right now. Ruby.” Sapphire held her hand out to her partner and Ruby nodded. The two embraced, their forms dissolving in a flash of magic and reforming into Garnet.

“Good to have you back, G.” Amethyst said, relieved. She had forgotten how unsettling Sapphire’s icy monotone could be.

“Good to be back.” Garnet replied, cracking her neck and staring at the growing thorny cocoon grimly.

“So what’s the plan?”

“When it emerges from that cocoon, it will be stronger than it was before. But, that will be our last chance to destroy it. We need to break through its defenses and crush the seed. To do that we are going to need an overwhelming amount of force.” Here Garnet crouched down and looked Amethyst in the eye. 

“We need Sugilite.”

Amethyst blinked. On the one hand, that plan was, like, a hundred and ten percent awesome. But on the other…

“Are you sure? Last time…” she trailed off, rubbing her arm uncomfortably and staring at the ground.

“Last time we got carried away. Both of us did. But this thing needs to be stopped. If it isn’t, it will go on a rampage.”

“But Sugilite…”

“Sugilite might go on a rampage too. But I’m not worried about that for three reasons. One,” Garnet held up a finger to emphasize. “There’s nothing important around here for her to smash. Two, there is nothing in Sugilite that is not a part of us, and neither of us wish to harm this planet. And three, I know you. You make mistakes, and so do I.” Garnet put her hand on Amethyst’s shoulder. “But you always get it right when it counts. I believe in you, and I need you to believe in me.”

Amethyst stared back, wide-eyed at Garnet’s words, she could see the fusion meant every word. And it sent a warm glow through her body, wiping away her doubts. 

“Then let’s mash it up.” She grinned.

The gems stood across from each other, readying themselves. As one they began to dance, their gems glowing radiantly as they resonated. They could both feel each other’s presence in their mind as they drew closer.

Amethyst could feel Garnet, two minds of fire and ice joined together as one, entering her mind and brushing her lingering doubts away, leaving behind nothing but confidence and a heady rush of power.

And Garnet could feel Amethyst. The younger gem’s mind pushing back the passive presence of Sapphire, closing her eyes to the river of fate, and joining with Ruby’s fires to form a unified will unhindered by the concerns of what might be.

They met in the middle, Garnet and Amethyst’s bodies melting into light, giving way to a massive figure that towered over the grasslands. Whose triumphant laugh echoed across the savannah.

“I’M BACK BABY!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author’s Note: That seemed like a good place to stop. I’m not too fond of this chapter but it will have to do.
> 
> One last thing:
> 
> I have a question for you all about Garnet:
> 
> Say someone/something was fighting her and managed somehow to cut off one of her hands, thus separating one of her gems from her body, what would happen? Would she defuse into Ruby and Sapphire? Go poof? Punch said thing in the face and keep fight as normal?
> 
> (These are the kind of idle things I think about.)


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sugilite has come.

There were two reasons why being Sugilite was so amazing. The first was that she was powerful; every inch of her form was brimming with barely restrained might. She felt like she could leap a mountain with a single jump, and then grind it to dust on the way down. In fact, she might just have to try that later, if she could find a mountain nobody would whine about going missing. But there was another, even better reason why being Sugilite was so incredible.

She was big.

That was obvious. Someone just needed to glance at her to know that she was the biggest, baddest thing on the battlefield. But there was more to it then just her size.

Sugilite felt big.

She didn’t just draw attention to herself; she damn well demanded it. Nothing and no one could fail to acknowledge her and get away with it. Her smaller parts suffered from a horde tiny doubts and weak insecurities: Amethysts lack of self worth, Garnet’s doubts on her leadership, and both of their insecurities about their own strength to do what they had to.

But Sugilite was above such thoughts.

She didn’t feel any of those petty doubts, those nagging fears. She knew she was worth it. She knew what she wanted to do, and she didn’t waste time trying to figure out how to do it, she just made it happen, consequences be damned. And her strength was so immense she couldn’t even begin to doubt it.

Sugilite was liberation from doubt.

And it was glorious.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sugilite laughed, stretching her arms above her head. It felt good to be back; the wind blowing through her mane of hair, the sun warming her body, the sheer sensation of just being her was intoxicating.

And now, it was time to for her favorite thing. It was time to fight.

Sugilite glanced down through her shades, taking in the spiky ball of crystalline vines, it had grown even bigger from when the other two had fought it, but it still only came up to he waist.

“An overgrown weed? Are you kidding me?” she snorted, shaking her head. The things those two gems formed her for these days...back in the day she used to take on hordes of crystal beasts, ancient gem war machines, she even punched out a crystal dragon once, and now she was called up to beat up a freakin’ plant?

“Whatever.” She grumbled, maybe it would still be fun to smash? Raising a pair of hands she called her weapon into being, the flail materializing in a flash of light and hitting the ground with a thunderous boom.

She hoisted it lazily off the ground, giving it a single swing for momentum before cracking it downward. It slammed into the cocoon with a resounding crash, forcing it into the ground and snapping off a few of the thorns, but it didn’t crack.

Sugilite raised a brow. So it could take a hit, huh? Big deal. This time she’d let it know she meant business. She yanked her flail back and started swinging it above her head with two hands. The air filled with a furious thrum as she whirled the weapon around. She spun on her heel, bringing the flail to maximum speed as she brought it hurtling down on the cocoon like a meteor.

Vines burst out of the plant tangle, weaving together to form two massive arms and caught the flail as it fell. The vines creaked and groaned as they strained against the force, the ball being forced halfway into the ground. Yet still, somehow, bringing it to a stop.

Sugilite growled, irritation filling her. Now the stupid thing wasn’t just boring, it was annoying too. She raised her hand holding the flail’s handle up and cracked it downward, sending a burst of purple energy raging down the cord. It reached the end and erupted into an explosion of violet fire. The plant recoiled from the force and fire, its shrieks rending the air as music to her ears.

Smoke billowed all around, hiding the plant from view. She brought her weapon back with a lazy tug as the shrieking stopped. From within the smoke, she could see a pair of pink lights appear in the smoke. They glared out at her, burning with rage.

She made a ‘bring it on’ gesture with her hands. “Trust me dude, you do not want me to have to come over there.”

There was a sound like a tree screaming and the pair of eyes shot upward, scattering the smoke as the war plant stood at full height.

“…An armored bear?” Sugilite blinked.

Rose’s errant war plant had taken on an ursine form, stubby legs supporting a thick body of vines. A pair of long arms stretched almost to the ground ending in wicked looking claws. While most of its body was made of the same green tendrils, its head and torso were covered in the same pink thorny vines that had stood up to her flail a moment ago.

Sugilite grinned.

“Now that’s more like it!” she said, cracking her knuckles. This might just be fun after all!

The bear snarled, its leg coiling like springs and shooting outward, sending the bear plant rushing towards her claws outstretched.

She caught it in midair. Bringing it to a halt and holding it off the ground. It roared, struggling in her grip. Furious, but unable to reach her as she had its paws locked in a grip of steel.

“Cute.”

Sugilite spun, slinging the plant bear through the air. She hauled up her flail, half forgotten on the ground, and sent it hurtling after the monster. The weapon connected as the bear hit the ground, smashing into its face and grinding it into the ground. She sent another burst of fire racing down the weapon, but the bear leapt backwards, knocking away the flail’s head before the explosion could reach it.

It gave another roar and charged, its paws thundering against the ground as it hurtled towards her. Not one to back down, she met it halfway, not bothering with her flail, she slammed her fists into its face even as it slashed at her stomach. They grappled, trying to force each other to the ground.

Sugilite laughed, even as it slashed at her, this was exactly what she needed to blow off some steam: duking it out with a giant monster until only one was left. It wasn’t as big as her, but hey. It came a lot closer then the most of the other things she had to fight in the past, so it wasn’t a total wuss. It lunged forward trying to bite her face off, she just craned her neck back, letting the jaws snap shut on empty space and slammed her head forward, shattering its jaws against her skull.

She whipped her head forward again, her hair writhing to life. Each strand morphing into a wicked blade that slashed at the across the bear. It staggered back, sap oozing out of the innumerable gashes and she followed up with a four-fisted uppercut, sending the bear hurting into the air, its head bent completely back.

Crossing her arms and smirking, she watched the plant beast slam into the ground and lie still. This was the most fun she’d had in ages.

“ _The seed. You must destroy it._ ” a voice whispered within her head.

Sugilite’s smirk morphed into a grimace. Just what she needed, being told what to do by a little runt inside her head.

“Shut up.” She snarled, good mood evaporating.

“ _The plant regenerates and adapts. The longer you take to beat it, the more likely it is to beat you.”_ the voice said, its annoying tone spreading through her head like an itch she couldn’t scratch. She wasn’t even sure which of the gems the stupid voice belonged to. It was just always there, telling her what to do, what not to do, giving her orders.

" _You must listen_.”

Nobody told her what to do.

“I ain’t gotta do nuthin!” Sugilite grunted, her anger surging through her like a storm and shoving the voice back into the depths of her mind. Sugilite smoldered as she watched the bear shove itself back upright.

Oh, she’d crush the stupid seed all right. Just not until she’d had her fill.

The plant became enveloped in a rosy glow, at its feet the land and plants began to wither as the slashes across its body closed and its teeth repaired themselves. As the glow faded, she noted that it had grown bigger as well. It now stood as tall as her, looking her dead in the eyes. Maybe now it would actually put up a decent fight?

“Well look who’s all grown up no- GAH!”

The bear had exploded into motion, hurling itself at her much faster than before. Caught off guard, she was only able to get her arms halfway up when it slammed into her.

The force of impact sent her sliding backwards. She dug her feet into the ground and was just able to keep herself from being bowled over. She slammed her fists into the bear but it barely budged, slashing out with its claws and leaving gashes all along her torso.

Sugilite tried to get some distance between them, but the vines shot out and wrapped around her arms like steel cords. It yanked backwards pulling her towards it and slammed its armored head into her face. Her shades shattered, digging into her eyes and blinding her.

She felt her feet leave the ground as the bear plant heaved, hurling her through the air. She hit the ground and rolled, the crystal grass leaving scratches all along her body, she came to a stop face down in the grass.

...

What just happened?

Sugilite pushed herself back to her knees; she was dimly aware of the bear stalking towards her, but her mind was too busy reeling with shock to truly register it. This thing was pushing her around. Her. That wasn’t supposed to happen, she was Sugilite! She was big, she was the strongest, and nothing could ever overpower her!

“ _I told you_.”

A shadow fell over her. The bear was above her, claws raised to finish her off. Her eyes narrowed.

Hell. No.

Her fury ignited, surging through her and materializing a massive pair of gauntlets on her hands; she caught the paws, stopping them dead. The plant paused, a flicker of confusion flashing through its eyes before redoubling its effort to crush her.

Sugilite squeezed, grinding the thing’s paws into paste, before tearing them off completely.

She was done playing around with the stupid weed.

“You think you’re tough?” She screamed, slamming another fist into the bear's face.

It tried to retreat, but she raised her hand and shot her left gauntlet like a rocket, slamming into its torso point blank and launching it into the air before exploding into a violet fireball. The bear shrieked as it hit the ground, its body blacked by the fire. It tried to rise, only to be met by Sugilite, who had leapt into the air after it, putting all her weight behind her remaining gauntlet. Her fist slammed into its armored head, crushing it like an egg.

“You’re nuthin’!”

It went berserk, writhing around in a blind fury. Unfortunately for the plant, in terms of anger, Sugilite was miles ahead of it; she was so full of rage that she could barely see. She hoisted it off the ground and methodically began to tear it to pieces. All four arms were blurs, ripping off vine after vine as it struggled, trying desperately to regenerate as it rained blows down on her head.

Sugilite wasn’t sure how long this went on, nor did she really notice when the blows stopped falling on her. But eventually her fury began to cool, when the her eyes clear she was left panting clutching the plant’s seed in between her forefinger and thumb. Its pinkish glow had ebbed, a few roots wriggled feebly around it.

“Like I said, nuthin’!” She finished, her eyes burning like coals as she glared at the miniscule seed.

And crushed it, grinding the seed to dust between her fingers. She flicked off the dust and fell to her knees, gasping for air.

She was exhausted. Which was weird, she couldn’t remember the last time she’d been so tired. She glanced around, the once pristine fields of grass wrecked. Anywhere that wasn’t pockmarked by craters was covered in blackened grass or bits of torn up vines. She grinned.

It’d been a good fight.

“ _And now it's time to go_.”

Sugilite frowned. That voice again.

“I ain’t done yet.” She said, rising to her feet. She closed her eyes and concentrated, willing the wounds on her body to disappear. She opened her eye once more and squinted in the glare. Why was it so bright? Oh right, the stupid plant had wrecked her shades. She formed a new pair, blocking out the irritating radiance. Much better.

“ _Why? The battle is done, our foe defeated. You are no longer needed_.”

“I’ll leave when I’m good and ready.” She said, stomping through the grasslands. Where was the warp pad again? She couldn’t see it even from her height.

“ _And when will that be?_ ” why couldn’t that voice just shut up? She was gonna start getting mad again.

“Why would I leave? It’s great to be me. Both of the runts who make me up love it.” She didn’t know why she was bothering to argue, she should just shut the whiney voice out, but she just couldn’t seem to work up the anger just yet.

“ _They enjoy the experience, but you always stay too long, and they regret what comes later_.”

Sugilite snorted, “If they really didn’t like it, they’d do something about it.” She caught a glimmer out of the corner of her eye and looked. Ah! There was the warp pad, about time.

“ _They try, but you do not let them. you are just too much._ ” Ugh, that was what everyone always whined about. She was too violent, she was too big, and she was too much. Why couldn’t the rest of the world just deal with it?

She had finally worked her way to the warp pad. She had trouble working them because of her size, but she could do it. She made to step onto it.

“ _Please_ _don't do this_.”

Sugilite paused. It wasn’t the words that made her, it was the tone; the voice was always creepily calm. Telling her what she should be doing. But it wasn’t calm now, it sounded… desperate, maybe even a bit angry.

“Why?” why shouldn’t she be allowed to go where she wanted, it’s not like anything could stop her.

 _“If you return to the temple, you will damage it, you will surely pick another fight with Pearl, and you will almost certainly hurt Steven_.”

“What!” Sugilite said, nostrils flaring. She didn’t care much about the temple, it was fallin’ apart anyway, and Bird-nose was always asking for it. But, “I wouldn’t hurt Steven.” The kid was the bomb.

“ _I'm sure you wouldn't mean to_.”

“I wouldn’t!” she repeated. If this stupid voice didn’t get a clue really quick, she was gonna start getting really mad, she could feel her insides beginning to heat up again.

“ _Are you sure? Last time you did_.”

“I… what?” Sugilite blinked, the half formed anger blowing away in confusion.

 _“At the communication hub, when he first met you. You hurt him_.”

“No I didn’t!”

 _“You did. When you started smashing the pillars he was hit by a falling rock. He recovered, but if Pearl hadn’t gotten him out of there, it could have been much worse. You would not have noticed until it was too late._ ”

“That’s not true!”… Was it? She had been smashing a lot of things. She couldn’t remember much else.

 _“It is._ ”

“But-”

 _“The world is just too little to handle Sugilite in more than small doses._ ” Here the voice became a little rueful. “ _We are just too much._ ”

“Oh it’s we now?” Sugilite replied bitterly, crossing her arms and glaring at nothing in particular.

 _“Of course. We are Sugilite. And it is time for us to go._ ”

Sugilite closed her eyes. “…fine.” She was getting bored anyway.

And let herself fall apart in a flash of violet light.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I gave Sugilite more powers then she has shown in canon because I can only say she hit it really hard so many ways. I did my best to keep it reasonable like she and make her act like she should.  
> It’s interesting, because my favorite of the fusions is actually Opal, but I think that the instability of Sugilite makes for a more interesting dynamic. What do the rest of you think?


	4. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author’s note: well, that bring this story to a close, I’m glad I was able to finish it. and thank you to anyone who read this far.
> 
> I tend to be my own worst critic, so I’m not sure if I like how I wrapped this story up. But if you could leave a review to let me know how I did on the whole, I would love that.
> 
> Also, about the question I asked earlier about Garnet:
> 
> In Reformed, when she used her rocket glove thing, her gems were visible on the stumps of her arms, so she wasn’t separated from them. I think that if someone were to cut off her hand she would at least diffuse, being separated from one of her sources of power. I’m not sure if Ruby or Sapphire would go poof, because the way Gems bodies work are weird and seem to get weirder every episode.

“Garnet, I don’t think I can feel my legs. How about you?” 

“Not really.”

The pair of crystal gems were as exhausted as entities made of solidified light could be. Once they defused, they’d had just enough energy to warp themselves home and not much else. Amethyst had attempted to drag herself hand-over-hand to the sofa but gave up halfway, and Garnet hadn’t bothered at all, choosing to lie stoically on the warp pad.

“Are your solo mission things always like this?” Amethyst asked, panting and eyeing the sofa with betrayal, why did it have to be so far away?

“No. Normally they aren’t that easy.”

“What!” Amethyst yelped, That was easy? She craned her neck to look back at the fusion, only to catch a glimpse of the grin stretched across her face. “That was a joke wasn’t it?”

“Yes, and you fell for it.”

“Did not.”

“Yes you did.”

“Okay, yeah I totally did.” Amethyst chuckled. They grinned at each other. Amethyst yawned, “I’m pooped, it’s nap time.” She settled herself a little more on the hardwood floor, placing her face flat against it. It was actually pretty comfy; after all, she generally fell asleep on whatever random pile of junk was closest at the time. She was just starting to drift off to the land of the sleep when Garnet’s voice pulled her back.

“Amethyst.” 

“Whuzzat?”

“I owe you an apology.”

“Uh, why?”

“My solo missions are not normally like this. I thought it would be a minor threat, but I was mistaken.”

“Don’t worry about it.” 

“But...”

“No seriously G, it’s cool.” Amethyst focused, and with a monumental effort, managed to roll herself onto her side, looking her leader in the shades. “We fight big monsters all the time. Rose’s giant murder plant was a bit bigger than you thought it would be? Big whoop. We kicked its butt, nuthin else matters.”

“…True.” Garnet smiled, they lapsed into silence, Amethyst dozed off once more: letting her body go slack against the floor and her mind go numb.

She was drawn out of her slumber, yet again, by the familiar sound of the warp. 

“Further more, Hele-cat is a cheap knockoff of Dog Copter and should be disregarded in all forms.” Steven had appeared in the warp with Connie and was making many dramatic hand gestures.

“Uh Steven. Why are you suddenly taller than me?” Connie interrupted. 

“Huh?” Steven looked down.

“Hello Steven.”

“Garnet!” Steven yelped, leaping to the side. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to stand on you like that, uh, why are you lying on the warp pad?” 

“It’s comfy.”

“Okayyyy?” Steven said, looking over at Connie who shrugged. 

“Sup Stee-man.” Amethyst waved lazily, not bothering to lift her face off the floor.

“Oh, hey Amethyst. Um… are you guys having another slumber party or something? I mean, that other one was really fun, but you’re supposed to wait until it’s dark out.” 

“Naw, we’re just chillin’. Where’s P?” 

“She was staying behind to clean up the arena, she said she had to set rig up something special for the next training session… which was kind of worrying, but I’m sure it’ll be fine.” Steven said, walking over to fridge and opening it. “Ah man. All we have is yogurt. I thought Pearl went to the grocery store yesterday…Amethyst?”

“What? I’m a growing gem, I need to eat.”

“No you don’t.” Said Garnet.

“Well okay, it’s more want than need. But still, those are kinda the same thing.”

Whatever Garnet was about to say cut off by the whoosh of the warp pad. Pearl materialized in a flash of light, clutching a clipboard and muttering to herself.

“Now let’s see. I’ll need at least twenty more explosives for the next session. Hopefully I’ll be able to find those in the town market, if not I can always rig some up from whatever we’ve got lying around.” 

“Hello Pearl.”

“GAH!” Pearl shrieked, dropping the clipboard and leaping off her leader. “Garnet? You nearly gave me a heart attack.”

“Gems don’t have hearts.”

“Well, obviously I know that. It’s just an expression that I’ve heard humans use to express surprise. It's completely understandable that I would pick up some local colloquialisms after spending so long on this planet. But I digress, what are you doing?”

“Lying down.”

“Well I can see that, but I meant why are you laying on the warp pad, there are plenty of less hazardous places to lay down.” 

“I can’t really move right now.”

“Can’t move?” Pearl glanced around the room. Something wasn’t right here. Steven was sharing a tub of yogurt with Connie and Amethyst was lazing around on the floor. Granted, that second situation was perfectly normal, but Amethyst wasn’t just resting, she looked tired. That only really happened when… “You formed Sugilite didn’t you?”

“Yes.”

“What!” Steven said, spewing some yogurt across the counter. “You guys formed Sugilite? And I missed it?”

“That’s what happens when you’re not around dude. You miss stuff.” Amethyst said.

“Aw man.”

“What possible reason could you have had for doing that?” Pearl asked, working her way over to the counter and sitting next to Steven. She summoned a sponge from her gem and started cleaning up the spilled yogurt.

“We were gardening.” Amethyst said, grinning lazily up at the taller gem.

“Gardening?” Pearl said, her voice laden with skepticism “And you needed Sugilite for that because?”

“There were some really big weeds.”

“Garnet? Can you tell me what really happened?” Pearl said, hoping to get an actual explanation. 

“We found one of Rose’s plants out in the Starlight Savannah, a big one, we had to use a lot of force to stop it.” 

Pearl blinked, “One of … Rose’s war plants? You must be mistaken, she would never leave such a thing lying around.”

“Well we were fighting something.” Amethyst said, rolling onto her side and staring up at Pearl. “It was a plant and had a lot of pink on it, pretty sure that was Rose’s style.”

“But she wouldn’t be so careless.”

“Why not? We’re always picking up random junk that other gems have left lying around. I got like, seven piles of the stuff in my room.”

“But not Rose, she wouldn’t do such a thing.”

“Uh, guys.” Steven interrupted. “What are you talking about? My mom’s plants? Is this like her flower moss or my watermelon Stevens?”

“More like your watermelon Stevens, but about twenty times worse.” Said Garnet. “And Pearl?”

“Yes Garnet?”

“It was one of Rose’s, that’s not in question. I don’t know how it got there, but it’s taken care of, there’s no point worrying about it anymore.”

“But…fine.”

“Great!” Steven exclaimed. “Now, Steven needs to know all the details of what happened, because this is something he needs to hear about.”

As Amethyst started to regale Steven and Connie with all the interesting parts of the adventure, Pearl stepped over to garnet and crouched down. “Garnet?” she whispered.

“Yes?”

“Did you know that Rose was involved in this before you set out on this mission of yours?”

Garnet closed her eyes and sighed. She didn’t need future vision to see where this was going. “Yes.”

“And you chose to inform Amethyst, but not me.” It wasn’t a question. 

“Pearl, I brought Amethyst because she asked to come.”

“But you didn’t think to bring me?” Pearl’s voice was mostly level, but Garnet could hear a slight tremble in it.

“You were busy with Steven and Connie.”

“That doesn’t mean I shouldn’t have been informed!”

“And if I had, what would you have done?”

“Well, I…” Pearl trailed off. 

“Dropped everything to rush to whatever it was? As long as it has even the mildest connection to Rose?”

Pearl didn’t reply. She just stared at the floor in silence.

“I chose not to tell you because you were working with Steven, and that is more important than chasing Rose’s memory.” Garnet said, her tone gentle.

“I…understand.” Pearl replied quietly, her eyes glued to the floor.

“Nonetheless, you had a right to know. If I ever sense anything like this again, you will be the first to hear of it.”

“Thank you Garnet.” Pearl smiled. 

Garnet nodded and closed her eyes. 

It had been a busy day, and it was time to sleep. 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The purple giant had left quite a swathe of destruction in her wake: scorched earth, craters, shattered trees, and torn up remains of the beast that smelled of flowers were everywhere. 

These parts of the grasslands were almost deserted, the birds and insects having fled from the fight. But there was still one creature there, prowling around the wreckage.

Lion sniffed the ground once more, lazily sifting through the myriad of scents, searching for the scent of his mistress’s power.

He had come to these grasslands on the behalf of one who lived no longer. He had been drawn to this place by something that had been left behind by the Lady of the Pink Mane. He had always known when she needed something of him, even when she was not around to tell him. 

He needed no message, he simply knew.

And so, Lion had come to the savannah, searching through the swaying grass for the scent of his Lady’s power, until he had encountered the two companions of his Lady: the wild purple one and the one with the square mane. They too had been searching for what his Lady had left behind.

He had guided them to the construct, and was glad that he had found them. Blessed though he was by the Lady, he could not have defeated the creature by himself. Lion had watched them fight against it, ready to help if he was needed.

But he wasn’t, his Lady’s companions were strong, and had crushed the construct. Then they had departed, leaving him behind. Which was just as well, for he had to make sure the job was finished. His Lady’s creations were resilient; the core had been crushed by the giant one’s wrath, but Lion’s body still tingled with the need of his mistress, urging him to find it.

Lion sniffed the ground once more, and froze, his nose flooding with the scent of his mistress’s energy. It was faint, but he could feel it, beneath the ground. He pawed at the spot, and roared, blasting away the dirt and grass. 

In the crater, wriggling sluggishly in the sudden sunlight was a root, all which remained of the Lady’s construct.

Lion padded down to it, as his shadow passed over it, the root tried to burrow into the ground. Lion stopped it with his paw, flicking it into the air and catching it in his mouth. His fangs ripped it to shreds and he swallowed it.

As though someone had flicked a switch, the feeling of his mistress’s need vanished. Leaving him calm and unhurried.

Lion yawned. There was nothing else needed of him. For now anyway, meaning there was only one thing to do.

Lion laid himself down within the crater, letting the warm light of the sun send him off into a wonderful doze.

And all around him, the wind blew. Rustling the crystal grass and filling the savannah with a musical chiming, as slowly the birds and insects returned, returning their song to the melody of the grasslands.

Fin.

**Author's Note:**

> This was written because I believe that Garnet and Amethyst have adventures when Steven is busy with Pearl. Like when Amethyst ate that cloud she had for some unexplained reason and Garnet had to retrieve her.
> 
> Seriously, where did Amethyst get a cloud? And where can I get one?
> 
> I hope I got the characters right. What would be the point of reading this otherwise?
> 
> Also, this takes place pre-Steven bomb 3, if any of you care.
> 
> I would love it if anyone left me a comment telling me what I did right/wrong.


End file.
